Sunday, June 6, 2010

1. Explain why Muggles need electricty. This is as close to magic as Muggles get. Electricity powers many Muggle machines and devices, including the lights in their homes, home cooling systems, entertainment systems like televisions, and even sometimes vehicles.

2. What are the most common ways Muggles communicate when they are not together in the same place? Muggles typically use telephones to talk remotely. Some telephones are kept at home on leashes called wires, but other phones stay with the Muggles. Sometimes the Muggle will talk into a telephone, and the person they are talking to will hear them on a second telephone. Other times the Muggle uses letters on the telephone to “text” which is sending words in writing, instead of sound. The Muggle receiving the message sees it displayed on their telephone.

3. How do Muggles cope with broken items? Sometimes Muggles put a broken item back together using glue, which is sticky and holds the pieces together. Unfortunately, Muggles frequently use a place called a garbage dump to store broken things, replacing the broken item with a new one. This contributes to even bigger piles of garbage and sometimes releases poisons into the environment.

4. Describe a popular Muggle sport. My favorite Muggle sport is called baseball. 2 teams play against each other at a time. One team starts out by standing around the field (playing defense), while the other team sits on a bench (playing offense). One part of the field has a diamond sketched on it, with “bases” at the 4 corners. A player from the defense stands at each of the 4 bases. One of the bases is called home.

One player from the offense stands at home plate with a bat (longer than a quidditch bat). The pitcher stands in the middle of the diamond, and throws a white ball at the batter, who tries to hit the ball. If he hits it, he runs around the bases, while the defense tries to hit him with the ball. If they hit him while he’s not standing on a base, he gets an out. There are a lot more rules, which sometimes Muggles argue over

5. Name something you'd like to try doing without magic, and how you would accomplish it. I would like to try growing food. To do this, I’ve got a garden in my yard. I bought plants at a Muggle store called a nursery, and am planting them in the garden. Since I won’t be using magic, I’ll have to use fertilizer to feed them, and a garden hose to water them when it doesn’t rain enough. I’ll have to pull out all the weeds (plants that grow in the garden that you don’t want) and then when the fruits and veggies are ready, pick them all by hand.

1. A small squared-off rod held in the hand with many soft buttons on one side with numbers and words written on them.A remote control, used to control televisions and other electronic items.

2. A metal box with a long, handled hose, which counts several sets of numbers when you compress the handle.Gas pump. Muggle vehicles (cars) burn gasoline (or petrol) for propulsion. Periodically, the Muggle must fill a tank in the car with gasoline, and they do that by using a gas pump.

3. A heavy rod with a single button that emits light when pushed.A flashlight. Since Muggles can’t use wands and the Lumos charm for light, they have flashlights.

4. A small, thin, glossy rectangle that has pictures on one side and emits a variety of noises, often attached to Muggles' ears with a thin cord.An Ipod. Muggles are able to put whatever music they like on their Ipods, making each one unique.

5. A large cabinet with one glass side, displaying a variety of neatly organized items, which occasionally spits one out when the correct code is entered.A vending machine: Since Muggles can’t summon food, and have no house elves, they have to provide their own food. Sometimes when they are away from home and need food, they visit a vending machine, put in various amounts of money, and get something to eat.

Part 3: Find a picture of the following Muggles and describe why they are famous.

1. Spike Jonze: a producer of movies, commercials and music videos. A movie is more like a wizard photograph than a Muggle one, in that the people move. But they can’t talk to the viewer. They just keep telling the same story every time the movie is viewed.

2. Oprah Winfrey: a woman who has acted in Muggle movies, publishes a magazine, and has a talk show on Muggle TV. On her show, she talks to famous Muggles, asking them a lot of questions.

3. Bono: a Muggle rock musician, from an Irish band called U2. He writes the words to all of their songs. He is also an activist and humanitarian, raising money for Muggles in poorer parts of the world.

4. Elizabeth II: the Queen of England. A largely ceremonial position, she is nominally the head of the English government. It is uncertain whether any of the Muggle Prime Ministers have informed her of the presence of the Wizarding world. She's been the queen for a really long time, and has a big ship named after her.

5. J.K. Rowling: An English writer who has written the saga of Harry Potter’s battle and defeat of Voldemort. Unlike Rita Skeeter, she seems to work hard at sticking very close to the truth, both good and bad.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Actually, I got it a week ago, right before I left to go out of town. So my apologies to Emma Scrimgeour for the delay.

First, when I opened the shipping box, I saw:Is that a great bag or what? Emma's mom made it!

Inside, there's this awesomely cute hippo tool box.

Inside the hippo:Harmony dpn's in size 1 (can never have too many of those!) stitch markers, and radish earrings (it's just not a Luna kit without radishes!) The stitch markers spell out "its often infested with nargles" which is what Luna says about mistletoe :-)

There is a pair of awesome mitts in Ravenclaw colors with big "diamond" buttons

There are also a pile of tea bags (yum!); some dark chocolate (gone already); a very nice hand made card; the pattern for Luna's Moonlight Ladies sock (by our own Ann Kingstone); and some hand-dyed yarn by Christina Marie Potter.